A bit off topic but lets say you and your co-founder follow the canonical YC advice. You form a Deleware C-Corp, register your California foreign entity and grant yourselves ISOs with a 4 year vesting period and a 1-year cliff.

But then your company starts to do very well and in 6-months you both agree you won't need to raise VC and want to start paying yourselves more than the ~$100k mentioned in this article. What would be the best way to draw money from the company ? Increasing you payroll check seems unwise from a tax standpoint. Dividends might be a good way but you don't yet own a single share so you can't be paid through a dividend. You could pay yourselves bonus checks, but isn't that taxed at same rate as payroll ?

Side request, can anyone recommend a CPA in the East Bay (SF). Thanks.